Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-10


with trying 10 measure their sheer height.
The little space of sky that mar ked where
they ended lay like thread of blue u,un
their soaring blacknesS, which was umrelieve,s
10y any Tree or crecper. Here and there,
however, grew Ehostiv patches If a long gray
hchen hanging mutiurlcSS to the rock as the
white beard IL the chm of dead man. II
seemed as though only the drecs or heavier
part Of the light had sunk to the bottom Of
this awful place. No bright winged sunbeam
could fall so low; they dIed far, far above our
heads
BN the rivers edge little shore
formed Of round fragments of rock washed
into this sha,,e hv the constant action Of
water and giving the place the appearance
of being >trewn with thousands Of fossil can
non BALI. Evidently when the water Of the
underground river Is high there is no beach
at all. or very little, between the border of
the stream aud the precipitous cliffs; but now
there was "A space. of seven or eight yards.
! And here, oh this beach, We determined to
land. in order to rest ourselves little after
all that we had gone through, and TO stretch
our limbs Il was a dreadful place. but it
would give an hours respite from the terrors
of the river. ami also allow of our repacking
selected what looked like a favorable spot,
and with some little difficulty managed to
beach the canoe and scramble out on TO the
round. inhospitahle pebbles.
| NV word" called out Good. who was on
shore the first, what an awful place, its
enough to give one a fit" And he laughed
Instantly a laundering voice took up his
WORDS magnifying them hundred times.
! Give one tit-ho' no, no" "A fit-ho'
| no! ho'r answered another voice. i'll wild ac-
| cents. from far up the cliff A fit. fit!
| n fit" chimed in voice after voice, each fling
| inr the words to and fro with shouts of aw-
full laughter to the invisible lips "f the other
! till the whole place echoed with the words
and with shrieks Of tiendish merriment,
| w',ich at last ceased suddenly as they had
begun.
oh. mon Dieu," yelled Alphonse, startled
quite out of such self command as he
possessed
Mon Dieu, Mon Dicu, Mon Dieu!" the
Titanic s,hoes thundered shriekei and walled
in every conceivable tone.
All" said Umslopogaas. calmly. Il clearly
perceive that devils live here. Well, the
place looks like it. -
Itriei TO explain to him that the cause of
all tn. hubhuh was a very remarkable and
interesting echo. but he would not believe It
All" he said. Il know an echo when hear
one There was one lived opposite my kraal
in Zululand and the Intomhis" tmaidens)
used 10 talk with it. But if what we hear is
a full grown echo. mine at home can only
have been a baby. No. no-they are devils
M there But don't think much Of them.
though" he added. taking a pinch Of snuff.
-Thev can copy what one saws. hut they don't
sem to bc able TO talk on their own account,
and they dare not show their faces" and he
rplarrsed into silence. and apparently paid no
further attention to such courti,ptlbe fiends.
After this we found II l,-,'essary 10 keep our
,onver>ai ion down 10 II whlSlsr-fur Il was
really unI,oarahl, to have every word one
uttered tossed to and fro like a tennis hall, as
precipice called TO precipice.
But even our whispers ran up the rocks in
mvStcripus murmurS till at last they died
away in long drawn siEhs of sound. Echoes
are del lightful ani romantic things, hut We
had more than enough Of them in that dread
full gulf.
As soon as We had settled ourselves n little
on the round stones we proceeded to wash
and dress our burns as well as We could As
We had but n lilrl. oil for the lantern We could
not spare any for this purpose, 50 we skinned
one Of the swans and used the fat of its
breast. which proved an excellent substitute.
Then we rCpacked the canoe and finally be
gan to take some food. OF which l need
scarcely say we were in need, for our insensi-
bilitv had endured for many hours, and it
was "a our watches showed, midday. Ac-
rordinglv we seated ourselves in a circle, and
were soon engaged in discussing our cold meat
with such appetite as we could muster, which.
in my case at any rate, was not much, as l
felt sick and faint after my sufferings of the
previous night and had besides a racl-ing
headache II was a curious meal The gloom
was so intense that we could scarcely see the
wav to cut our food and convey it to our
mouths Still We got on pretty well, although
the meat tainted by the heat through
which il had passed, till ! happened 10 look
behind me-my attention being attracted by
noise Of something crawling over the
stones-and perceived sitting upon rock in
my immediate rear huge species Of black
fresh water crab, only it was five times the
siza Of any crab | ever SAW. This hideous
and loafh~ome looking animal had projecting
ewes that seemed TO glare at one, very long
and flexible antennR, or feelers, snd gigantic
claws Nor was l especially favored with its
company From every quarter dozens Of
these hOrrid hrutes were creeping up, drawn,
! Suppose. by the smell OF the food from be-
tween the round stones and out Of the holes
in the precipice. Some Were already quite
close to us. stared, quite fascinated by the
unusual sight, and as did So | saw one Of the
beasts stretch out its huge claw and give the
,rrlsuIspecting Good such nip that he
jumped up with howl and set the wild
echoes hylng" in sober earnest. Just then.
too. another. very large one, got hold Of
AlphonSe's leg. and declined to part with it.
aud. rs may be imagined. a considerable
Scene ensuei. UmslopUgaas took his ard
cracked the shell Of one with the fla of il.
whcreun il set up horrid sort Of screaming
which the echoes multiplied a thousand fold,
and began to foam at tue mouth a proc.r-i-
ing that drew hundreds more of its friends
out of unsuspected holes and corners Those
on the spot, perceivlng that the animal was
hurt. fell upon it like creditors on a bank
rupt, and literally rent it limb from limb
with their huge pincers, and devourei ii,
using their claws TO convey the fragments to
their mouths. SeiZing whatever weapons
We're handy, such As stones or paddles. we
commenced a war upon the monsters, whose
numbers We're increasing by leaps and
bounds. and whose stencil was overpowering.
So fast as We cracked their armor others
seized the injured ones and devoured them,
foauning at the mouth, and screaming as they
did So. Nor did the brutes stop at that.
When they could they nipped hold of It's
and awful uips they were-or tried 10 steal
the meat. One enormous fellow got hold of
the swan we had skinned and began TO drag
1t off Instantly a score of Others flung
themselves upon the prey, and then began a
ghastly and disgusting scene. How the mon
sters foamed and screamed. and rent the
a MI ..uri, nfhnr.i ,ynS sinl.,n,,rr nn,l